Previous apparatus and methods for production of large volume four color reproduction pigment printing of displays from raster screens of CRT terminals for computers proceed through three phases:
I. Producing a hard copy of the selected image by one of several means, such as direct photographs from the screen, computer controlled photographs on Polaroid T film generated from the CRT signal producing the image, or as the output of an attached color printer controlled by the computer signals for the image to be printed on the printer. Producing multiple copies by repeating this phase is possible, but usually not practical if many copies are required because of the cost in terms of time, materials and use of expensive equipment involved.
II. Performing color separations on the hard copy produced in phase I to produce four black and white internegatives needed to make the control plates for the cyan, magenta, yellow and black units of the typical four color press. This is usually done at a site remote from both phases I and III.
III. Converting the output of phase II to properly sized control plates and then producing the required number of copies by color printing in a traditional full color press.
In the past the inventor has employed the prior art phases to produce color block graphs for use on book or journal covers. These, and other graphs sought by editors and publishers have been subject to delay involved in passing through phase II, and attendant high cost. Costs of $200.00-$500.00 per page are common.
Recent survey articles or seminars on the rapidly growing color graphics area of the computer field cite hard copy as one of the major problems faced in assuring advance of this area. More and more computer generated graphics are being used for their information content in books, magazines or journal articles, for their beauty in advertising on book and magazine covers, wall paper, poster, wrapping paper and the like. Methods for reducing costs and time delays in mass printing of such graphics are thus needed to increase productivity, efficiency and usefulness.